Saturday, April 18, 2020

Rethinking the COVID-19 "Pandemic"


The front page headline of the Wall Street Journal this morning read: "Stocks Rally in Face of Downturn."

Why?

Perhaps they know something we don't? Or have we been too manipulated by fear to look critically at what has just happened thanks to a little-known RNA virus?

I realize that most of the blog posts here lately have been critical of the American Board of Medical Specialties and their 24 subsidiary medical specialty boards, in large part because they rely on rote memorization of trivial facts as a means of gauging physician "quality" and "professionalism" (as they have deemed to "redefine" the term in their 2002 widely-published self-written white paper). Clinical experience gained only after years of complicated and uncertain patient interactions has always been immaterial to these rent-seeking data-collecting medical specialty member boards. But what I'm focusing on now is something much more important for the practicing physician that can't be measured by a standardized test: the ability to think critically in the face of the unknown. After all, most new patient encounters require the ability to assimilate vast amounts of information and distill it clinically for the benefits of an individual patient that has an infinite number of possible clinical co-founders.

We have to remember that 27-year old journalists and younger brilliant physician sycophants of the computerized test, as much as they may mean well, can be easily manipulated by political, economic, and social agendas that have been engrained in our society for years. As clinical physicians, is our job to listen to politicians and economists and those young physicians, or to think critically about an incredibly complicated non-linear (and non-exponential) biologic event that has just swept the world and resulted in the shuttering of so many economies and left over 22 million unemployed in the United States alone?

In the beginning of this evolving WHO-defined pandemic, the world were enamored with mathematical models from economists and pundits based in complicated assumptions - most of which were (quite frankly) guesses and never truly gauged to existing well-known viral illnesses like seasonal influenza. The World Health Organization (WHO) proclaimed early on that this new coronavirus had an incredibly high 3.4% mortality rate. New phrases were quickly introduced into our daily vernacular by the mainstream and social media like"flattening the curve," and "social distancing" as images of refrigerator trucks to house the dead were pushed to our cell phones. But that mortality statistic, we're now finding, was markedly overblown.

Perhaps more important is the way this virus has managed to seek out and impact the most medically vulnerable of our populations: those in close living environments or the socially disadvantaged with serious preexisting medical conditions like obesity, diabetes, lung disease, heart disease, cancers, and blood dycrasias. The elderly in particular, have been remarkably vulnerable to succumbing to COVID-19, in large part because they carry these preconditions far more frequently than younger patients. Health care workers, too, see a skewed population that can seem overwhelming at such a time since we are subjected to an unknown pathogen with an uncertain transmission, prevalence, and unknown lethality. We see the people dying and our bias is reinforced: this must be something BIG.

So how do we gain perspective and reliable data? Do we turn to mainstream media, or print scientific journals that are slow to react and limited in their scope, or do we turn to each other knowing each of us is struggling with the same unknowns? Or maybe that, too, is complicated.

Fortunately, thanks in large part to the internet, the world is quite literally, our oyster. It is time as one British pathologist John Lee has appropriately suggested, that we begin to examine the evidence with "skepticism and vigorous debate." The COVID-19 death toll, and how it relates to our more typical seasonal flu that often impacts hospitals, is far from clear. There is nuance involved in proclaiming a death rate when those dying from a virus are intermingled with those dying with a virus.

Clinical physicians should begin to critically question our national narrative, given these recently updated facts regarding the COVID-19 pandemic from a Swiss physician, each of which are carefully referenced. Look them over. Carefully. Perhaps putting the current situation in perspective from other parts of the world will be more helpful to our patients and their economic and psychologic strife than  taking remarkably expensive and unproven computerized tests created by unaccountable bureaucrats that mean absolutely nothing.

-Wes

Image above from: Lee, J. "How to understand - and report - figures from "COVID Deaths."

18 comments:

Anonymous said...

Has anyone heard of the AMA, ABIM, ABMS or any of the specialty boards using our monies for buying PPE's for health care workers? Has anyone heard of these C suite administrator/doctors caring for patients while the COIVD 19 crisis is going on? Has anyone heard of these boards or organizations supporting physicians while they are risking their lives, having their pay cut or being furloughed/fired? Have they supported any of the physicians who have been called disruptive for trying to find PPE's or calling our administrators for not having enough PPE's for health care workers. Has anyone heard of these false bureaucracies stating what Dr. Wes said concerning the ABFM giving lifetime certification to any physician who is seeing patients right now. They are risking their lives and possibly their family's lives. Has anyone asked them what their sacrifice has been?

If not, then anyone who sees them at a meeting, TED talk or at a conference should ask them these questions. Their silence is deafening.

JP Morgan Plans to Leave Ground Zero said...

JP Morgan's Dimon predicts recession

What did the elites know and when did they know it? JP Morgan "offshoring" its operations/jobs to tax friendly states. October 2019 announcement. This move out of the Big Apple/Wall Street was announced weeks before the first cases of Covid-19 in China. Now they will use the predicted recession to fire high paid employees and those with accrued benefits, while they move to states with cheaper living/real estate.

How much wealth was lost in this crisis so far? How much is predicted to be lost going forward? What about the the trillions in new debt issued to bail out the banks and corporations. Money that is being strapped to the taxpayers' backs.

Who's Counting said...

Who or what is the Open Philanthropy Project?

Professionalism and Conflicts of Interest (The Current Crisis) said...

How we got here

Here's a fairly fresh read which underscores the ABIM Foundation's blatant hypocrisy.

What's that organization they mention here in the ABIMF article by Daniel Wolfson? IMAP? Columbia University based? How much did the ABIM Foundation "donate" to this Soros Open Society related organization? What is that organization IMAP, the one Soros/IMAP helped establish in China called? "China-US Center on Medical Professionalism [2] based in Beijing." (See Wikipedia below.)

ABIMF Grant to IMAP 2003/2006
http://www.medtees.com/blog/IMAPGrants0308.png

IMAP Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Institute_on_Medicine_as_a_Profession

Event 201 John Hopkins Center for HealthSecurity
https://www.centerforhealthsecurity.org/event201/

"Statement about nCoV and our pandemic exercise
In October 2019, the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security hosted a pandemic tabletop exercise called Event 201 with partners, the World Economic Forum and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Recently, the Center for Health Security has received questions about whether that pandemic exercise predicted the current novel coronavirus outbreak in China. To be clear, the Center for Health Security and partners did not make a prediction during our tabletop exercise. For the scenario, we modeled a fictional coronavirus pandemic, but we explicitly stated that it was not a prediction. Instead, the exercise served to highlight preparedness and response challenges that would likely arise in a very severe pandemic. We are not now predicting that the nCoV-2019 outbreak will kill 65 million people. Although our tabletop exercise included a mock novel coronavirus, the inputs we used for modeling the potential impact of that fictional virus are not similar to nCoV-2019."

https://www.centerforhealthsecurity.org/newsroom/center-news/2019/2019-10-15-event201.html

https://www.centerforhealthsecurity.org/our-work/events/2018_clade_x_exercise/about-clade-x

https://www.openphilanthropy.org/about/who-we-are

https://www.centerforhealthsecurity.org/our-people/toner/

https://www.openphilanthropy.org/giving/grants/alliance-open-society-international-albanian-renaissance

https://www.openphilanthropy.org/focus/global-catastrophic-risks/biosecurity/center-health-security-biosecurity-health-security-gcrs-2019

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_Philanthropy_Project

Anonymous said...

If I were taking a survey, I would say definitely manipulated.

Soros in Wuhan, China? (Rumors and Facts) said...

Soros Fund Management SEC filing from 2011. No current holdings are available.

It appears that in 2011 George Soros was invested in the WUXI Pharmatech (Cayman Islands) with Labs in Wuhan, Wuxi, Shanghai, New Jersey, Minnesota, Georgia and Philadelphia and elsewhere. There is historical evidence of investment interest in vaccines, treatments for viruses, but because Soros restructured his funds after that point to avoid any scrutiny from authorities we cannot see his current holdings. He made his hedge fund for "family only" avoiding regulators prying eyes. He did hold a lot of Gilead Science also at the time, Abbot, and Kunghui (medical device company) that was bought out by Medtronic. Plus shares of Carefusion and Cardinal Health when the NQF was "endorsing" surgical products for hospitals. The connection between Cassel and Soros is a long story. The ABIM Foundation has even donated to Soros inspired projects, or could we say that the ABIM followed suggestions from Soros. Regardless, there is nothing gray about the relationship between the entities.
Soros has been heavily invested in life sciences. This sheds light on conflicts on conflicts of interest that have been speculated about by others.

"WUXI PHARMATECH CAYMAN INC SPONS ADR SHS 929352102 $ 3,865 250,000 SH SOLE 1 X

UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549

FORM 13F

FORM 13F COVER PAGE

Report for the Calendar Year or Quarter Ended: March 31, 2011

Check here if Amendment [ ]; Amendment Number:

This Amendment (Check only one.): [ ] is a restatement.
[ ] adds new holdings entries.

Institutional Investment Manager Filing this Report:

Name: Soros Fund Management LLC
Address: 888 Seventh Avenue
New York, New York 10106

Form 13F File Number: 028-06420

CARDINAL HEALTH INC COM 14149Y108 $ 383 9,300 SH SOLE 1 X
NQF infamous company

CAREFUSION CORP COM 14170T101 $ 787 27,900 SH SOLE 1 X
NQF's Chuck Denham received kickbacks for endorsment

CEPHEID COM 15670R107 $ 375 13,400 SH SOLE 1 X
FDA fastrack for Covid testing
https://www.medicaldevice-network.com/news/us-fda-eua-cepheid-sars-cov-2-test/

GILEAD SCIENCES INC COM 375558103 $ 58,428 1,375,736 SH SOLE 1 X
April 16 Gilead covid drug, patients responding to treatment
https://www.statnews.com/2020/04/16/early-peek-at-data-on-gilead-coronavirus-drug-suggests-patients-are-responding-to-treatment/

Soros in Wuhan? (cont.) said...

ABBOTT LABS COM 002824100 $ 6,170 125,800 SH SOLE 1 X
Breakthrough covid antibody test with nearly 100% accuracy can reopen the economy
https://www.kiro7.com/news/local/breakthrough-covid-antibody-test-with-nearly-100-accuracy-can-help-reopen-economy/RFCEDOCPVJEWPMYKUVSEVRRPYQ/

NPS PHARMACEUTICALS INC COM 62936P103 $ 7,409 773,400 SH SOLE 1 X

CUBIST PHARMACEUTICALS INC COM 229678107 $ 3,786 150,000 SH SOLE 1 X

CHINA KANGHUI HLDGS SPONSORED ADR 16890V100 $ 10,366 592,000 SH SOLE 1 X
Chinese medical device group bought out by Medtronic

CARDIOVASCULAR SYS INC DEL COM 141619106 $ 1,611 148,780 SH (OTHER) 1 X

CALIPER LIFE SCIENCES INC COM 130872104 $ 85 12,500 SH SOLE 1 X

CIGNA CORP COM 125509109 $ 615 13,900 SH SOLE 1 X

BRISTOL MYERS SQUIBB CO COM 110122108 $ 34 1,300 SH SOLE 1 X
BM buys Celgene to create innovation (AMA partner)
https://news.bms.com/press-release/corporatefinancial-news/bristol-myers-squibb-acquire-celgene-create-premier-innovative

BRISTOL MYERS SQUIBB CO COM 110122108 $ 5,286 200,000 SH CALL SOLE 1 X

BIOMARIN PHARMACEUTICAL INC COM 09061G101 $ 500 19,900 SH SOLE 1 X

ARRAY BIOPHARMA INC COM 04269X105 $ 44 14,400 SH SOLE 1 X

AMERICAN MED SYS HLDGS INC COM 02744M108 $ 2,705 125,000 SH SOLE 1 X

AMERICAN SCIENCE & ENGR INC COM 029429107 $ 15,399 166,726 SH SOLE 1 X

ALLOS THERAPEUTICS INC COM 019777101 $ 1,200 378,500 SH SOLE 1 X

ALLSCRIPTS HEALTHCARE SOLUTNS COM 01988P108 $ 230 11,000 SH SOLE 1 X

BOSTON SCIENTIFIC CORP COM 101137107 $ 139 19,400 SH SOLE 1 X

ALLERGAN INC COM 018490102 $ 3,061 43,100 SH SOLE 1 X

ALEXION PHARMACEUTICALS INC COM 015351109 $ 395 4,000 SH SOLE 1 X

EDWARDS LIFESCIENCES CORP COM 28176E108 $ 35 400 SH SOLE 1 X

ENZON PHARMACEUTICALS INC COM 293904108 $ 331 30,400 SH SOLE 1 X

EXPRESS SCRIPTS INC COM 302182100 $ 73,333 1,318,700 SH SOLE 1 X

DHJohnson Jr MD said...

The AMA has strongly defended physicians who complained to administrators about insufficient PPEs, especially when those physicians have been disciplined for speaking out.

AMA News Editorials Are Not Enough said...

Words? Or Action?

A resolution to end mandatory MOC came out of the nearly unanimous will of the AMA House of Delegates a few years ago, but it was not acted upon. It was blocked, actually by the AMA powers to be. That is the problem. Political interests and moneyed interests get in the way.

We need action from those who have experience and wisdom to be active and see if they can change the AMA. Purge it of the old guard. It turns one face to world (through PR, and physician satisfaction specialists paying lip service to physicians and patients) and another face, a tight thin one, comes out that we don't see behind closed doors. That face denies with its left hand what the right hand (delegates for example) wishes to give. The body of physicians are good, but unfortunately the core with the power are not so good to put it bluntly. It is corporate greed, that get in the way to use the words of Bernie Sanders. We would have had PPE prepared in advance for a pandemic, if the AMA leadership used its lobbying dollars for that purpose. The CDC would be responsible if we had concerted efforts that got at the core of our problems with resolve.

Charity or Exploitation of Suffering said...

Will coronavirus be weaponized by oligarchs like Soros and used to divide people? People used as political and financial pawns. I hope not.
But Soros' negative history and trail of tears is long and deep for those groups and countries that have been in his organizations' financial cross hairs. The interenet is full of fact-based reports along with the typical conspiracy theory-labeled exaggerations and simplifications of how he makes money and political hay. Soros may be just a repugnant figurehead or imp working for many of his elite clients, who would not like to be named. This figurehead and his organizations are actually banned in many countries.
There are many who would like to know the truth about things but there is a lot of disinformation spread about, that discredits factual as well as false accounts of his organizations, hedge funds and staged events. Soros was convicted in the EU of "fraud". Insider trading were the charges. The investigation took 14 years to reach a conclusion and mete out justice. This was in 2002 around the same time that the ABIM Foundation started donating to Soros-backed organizations. 2003-2006. Christine Cassel and other in her circle worked closely with Soros and took his money to advance their careers while he was under investigation. Cassel is an expert in "ethics" and helped write the white paper that us mentioned on this blog concerning professionalism. Dr. Richard Baron began his official relationship on the board of directors of the ABIM around the time of 9/11 and a French courts conviction of George Soros for insider trading, which resulted in a hefty fine. This is an example of Philly politics, which has been typified by the phrase "corrupt and content."
https://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/21/business/soros-is-found-guilty-in-france-on-charges-of-insider-trading.html

COVID19 Testing Reliability? said...

Unreliable COVID-19 Tests

by Stephen Lendman (stephenlendman.org – Home – Stephen Lendman)

The true number of COVID-19 outbreaks is unclear because of inaccurate test results — showing false positives or negatives at times.

According to Professor of Medicine John Bell, “(w)e see many false negatives (tests where no antibody is detected despite the fact we know it is there) and we also see false positives,” adding:

“None of the tests we have validated would meet the criteria for a good test. This is not a good result for test suppliers or for us.”

“There are 100 or more such test kits from different suppliers available for identifying Covid-19 antibodies, and it is important that each of these is checked for accuracy before making them available to the public.”

Live Science reported that negative COVID-19 test results aren’t proof positive of the absence of the disease.

The accuracy of tests used is suspect. “(A)bout 30% of tests…may give false-negative results.”

https://stephenlendman.org/2020/04/unreliable-covid-19-tests/

NIH GOF Studies said...

The US government is lifting a ban on engineering deadly viruses to make them more dangerous
Business Insider - December, 2017

NIH-funded GAIN OF FUNCTION (GOF) research resumed in 2017 after a 2014 moratorium on producing new and more deadly airborne pathogens for "defensive purposes" was halted in the wake of small pox and anthrax breaches were discovered at less than "secure labs".

Hammer and Dance said...

The Predictive Future of the Cornavirus As Told By NPR and NYT Science Writer

"The Daily
The Next Year (or Two) of the Pandemic
2 days ago · 25 min
Play episode
As President Trump urges states to begin reopening their economies, a debate is raging over when and how to end lockdowns across the country. Our reporter spoke to dozens of public health experts to try to understand our path out of lockdown — and how our world will change in the meantime. Guest: Donald G. McNeil Jr., a science and health reporter for The New York Times. For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily.

Background reading:

While the economy is likely to reopen slowly, there is hope that society will adapt to manage the uncertainty of our new circumstances. Here’s what experts say the next year (or more) will look like."

https://podcasts.google.com/?feed=aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5wb2R0cmFjLmNvbS96S3E2V1paTFRsYk0&episode=Z2lkOi8vYXJ0MTktZXBpc29kZS1sb2NhdG9yL1YwL0hRM0pOMVdicWNiZEhBWTI2dUtwdm11bEtvRHRNMl9jN3hacUZQODlkRFU&hl=en&ved=2ahUKEwib0LrG-_noAhV2JzQIHf5vDngQieUEegQICBAG&ep=6

After listening to this podcast if appears that NPR and the New York Times are not only reporting on the the corona crisis they are actually writing the script for the future.
Doom and gloom for years to come is what they present (for political reasons), while an epidemiologist/population health researcher in Santa Clara County California quietly gathers actual data, which tells us a different story. Is the narrative being controlled by the media? If so, why? To what end? NPR and other media giants seem to ignore data or fail to think and question critically.

April 17th Serology Study announcement (Stanford University) Similar studies should have been conducted nationwide! Solid ground for optimism to open up our society sooner rather than later.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGUgrEfSgaU&feature=youtu.be

What If? said...

Douglas County Herald Letter to the Editor . . . What if?

"What if…? What if the number of Coronavirus cases is not accurate and is actually exaggerated by many times? What if the estimates are based on a flawed computer model? What if the developer of the model has so admitted? What if the death certificates are being modified to show more Coronavirus related deaths than actually exist? What if people who were already dying of serious conditions like heart disease or diabetes or COPD are now being counted as Coronavirus deaths because of the supposed presence of Coronavirus at the time of death? What if hospitals are assuming people have Coronavirus just because they exhibit one or more symptoms, like a cough or fever, even though no actual lab testing is performed (presumptive diagnosis)? . . . " https://douglascountyherald.com/2020/04/letter-to-the-editor-20/

"Corrupt and Complacent" ? (Chris Cassel on Burnout) said...

COMMITTEE ON SYSTEMS APPROACHES TO IMPROVE PATIENT CARE BY SUPPORTING CLINICIAN WELL-BEING

PASCALE CARAYON (Co-Chair), Leon and Elizabeth Janssen Professor, Director of the Wisconsin Institute for Healthcare Systems Engineering, University of Wisconsin–Madison

CHRISTINE K. CASSEL (Co-Chair), Senior Advisor on Strategy and Policy, Professor of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco (ET AL)

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK552622/

"KEY FINDINGS
Burnout is highly prevalent among health care clinicians and has important personal and professional consequences as well as negative effects on the organizations in which they work and on society as a whole. Personal consequences include occupational injury, detrimental alcohol use, and a risk of suicide. Professional consequences include effects on the quality of care, the patient experience, and patient outcomes. Burnout has clear and profound impacts on staffing, including absenteeism, presenteeism, reduced productivity, turnover, and clinicians leaving the profession. These aspects have not only a substantial impact on health care organizations but also profound consequences for the adequacy of the U.S. health care workforce. In addition to the potentially tragic consequences for patients and clinicians, there are substantial economic costs to society and health care organizations. In aggregate, the facts make a compelling case for action to address health care professional burnout at the organization and societal levels."

Is this a "scientific study" of burnout to understand and help or merely social engineering? More unprofessional behavior from the "queen of conflicts."

Burnout and Moral Distress said...

What will the Covid-19 crisis do for physician burnout statistics?

Ethics in Conflict: Moral Distress as a Root Cause of Burnout
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11606-019-05505-6

Citing distraction Cassel step down from board seats at Premier and Kaiser.
https://www.propublica.org/article/citing-distraction-quality-forum-ceo-resigns-board-seats

Presidential Chair UCSF $$$ Housing, travel, research reimbursement
https://academicaffairs.ucsf.edu/academic-personnel/other/award-presidential_call.php

What about MOC, Bob? Doesn't that cause burnout?

Epoch Times said...

It is just a matter of time before an news organization such as Epoch Times or ProPublica does a documentary or exopse on the ABMS and its educational Ponzi scheme called MOC.

Anonymous said...

95% of what the ABIM/ABMS says in defense of MOC is bunk. A total fabrication. The other 5% is
self-justification fors their executive largess, Cayman Island investment parachutes and obscenely inflated executive paydays. Silence is the mutually agreed upon cover story for the continued abuse of physician and patient rights.